


Curtain Call

by AderaReam



Series: RideBack Oneshots [1]
Category: RideBack
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 07:54:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8524957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AderaReam/pseuds/AderaReam
Summary: What happened just after Rin's final dance.





	

    “That took guts.” Tenshiro said to himself, jumping down from the rooftop he had been perched on to watch. Rin had taken Fuego and made it dance. She had made it human and flawless and flawed. She had taken down those GGP bots with grace bordering on supernatural. All for Suzuri. All for her memory. “If only…” He did not allow himself to complete that thought, but found that he could not help but be drawn to her side. He drew up next to where she was still sitting atop a smoldering Fuego. She was looking down at nothing at all, still enveloped in her performance.

  
    He looked around. The GGP bots lay in broken bits littered across the park, some of them in flames. The grass was streaked with tire burns and beyond that the city was still in an uproar, buildings burning, people fighting, but not for very much longer. Here was the calm after the storm. It would spread from this point and move out to cover the whole of Japan. Things were not over, not by a long shot, there was still so much work to be done, but this, right now, was over.

  
    Tenshiro looked back up as he felt eyes on him. Rin had finally pulled herself out of the dance and was looking at him. Without really knowing why, he got off of his Rideback and held out his arms to her. She did not seem to consider much at all before she leaped off of Fuego towards him. She did not fall into his arms, she flew, and she held his eyes as he carefully lowered her to the ground. She seemed to be almost at peace. She was calm, she was going to move forward. There would be time for tears later, for all of them.

    Keeping one arm around her, Tenshiro guided her to sit down in front of the statue, taking a seat beside her. The emergency services and the press seemed to take this as an invitation to enter the park and approach them. He released Rin, but watched her like a hawk as the medics gave her an ointment for minor contact burns and bound her injuries. The press were buzzing in the background, waiting. The medics were efficient about their work and seemed to pick up on the fact that he would not let them take Rin out of his sight. Not now, when he had been so close to losing her again.

  
    Tenshiro did not have any injuries himself. He had been lucky. The medics put orange blankets over them both and stepped back. Once his sight was no longer impeded he saw that people were putting out the fires and hauling the GGP bots away. He looked over at Rin and saw that her gaze had drifted back to the smoking husk that was Fuego. She seemed almost lost.

  
    “I said that I would give it up.” She admitted quietly. He said nothing, letting her speak in her own time. “I said I would have one more ride, one more dance. For Suzuri.” Her voice broke, she took a moment to collect herself, pulling the blanket tighter around her. He wanted desperately to comfort her, but was unsure of his welcome. She continued, “But now, seeing her like… I don’t think I can do it. I need her. It's a crutch and it's dangerous but-”

  
    "It is not a crutch.” He said quietly. She turned to look at him, eyes huge and watery. “It is an art. You make it an art. You made her into something beautiful the way that I or Kiefer or Tamayo never could. We made them fight or race, you made them dance. You made her into a symbol of safety and strength, today.”

  
    “But now she’s dead.” Rin looked down and then up, fighting tears. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the press approaching, he glared at them before turning back to Rin.  
“She can be fixed. I built her, I can make her whole again.” Rin turned back to him once more, shocked.

  
    “You would do that for me? After all I have done? After all I have done to you?”

  
    “You have done nothing to me.” He said, gruffly. “And for whatever else you’ve done, I’m sure you will be forgiven.” When he chanced a glance up at her, a smile was slowly spreading on her face. It was like the blooming of the cherry blossoms, or perhaps a rose as it spread throughout the whole of her, lighting her from within. He quickly looked away again, rubbing the back of his neck.

  
    “Thank you.” He glanced up once more, met her eyes. They shared a long, charged look, ignoring the press surrounding them taking pictures and asking questions and being a general nuisance. Tenshiro could feel something unfolding, the beginning of something new. He gave her a small smile, she gave him one back. Together, they turned to face the world that would come.


End file.
